Transfer RNA and Synthetic Biology Thursday, April 25 2013, 11am Read more about Transfer RNA and Synthetic Biology
New Faces: Our Graduate Program is Growing! The broad-based training afforded by the UGA Microbiology graduate program remains in great demand, and in the last two years we have expanded considerably. Since 2010 we have grown from forty-six to fifty-eight graduate students and added eleven new trainers to our graduate program. Read more about New Faces: Our Graduate Program is Growing!
Congratulations to Dr. Dan Colley, recipient of the Distinguished Life Sciences Scientist Award Congratulations to Dr. Dan Colley for being chosen as the recipient of the Distinguished Life Sciences Scientist Award sponsored by the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and the U.S Chamber of Commerce award. Read more about Congratulations to Dr. Dan Colley, recipient of the Distinguished Life Sciences Scientist Award
Kerry M. Oliver Adjunct Professor Research Research Areas: Microbe-Host Interactions Microbial Ecology Labs (via personnel): Kerry M. Oliver Labs: Oliver Read more about Kerry M. Oliver
Michael Terns Adjunct Professor Regents Professor CRISPR: From basic biology to far-reaching biotechnology and biomedical applications. CRISPR-Cas systems are recently discovered RNA-based adaptive immune systems that control invasions of viruses and other mobile genetic elements in prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea). CRISPR-Cas systems function by capturing short invader sequences within the CRISPR locus of the host genome, producing short crRNAs from the CRISPR locus transcripts, and using the crRNAs to guide Cas protein-containing immune effector complexes to recognize and destroy the invading nucleic acids. CRISPR-Cas based immunity is mediated by numerous and diverse Cas proteins and a given organism may possess one or more of the at least 16 distinct sets of known CRISPR-Cas immune modules. We currently know very little about how the key steps in the fascinating CRISPR-Cas immune response pathways occur for most of the systems. Using a powerful combination of molecular, genetic, structural, and biochemical approaches, we are determining the molecular basis for how various CRISPR-Cas systems acquire foreign DNA sequence in their CRISPR locus memory banks to provide heritable immunity against specific invaders. We are also delineating the mechanisms by which diverse crRNA-Cas protein immune effector complexes selectively recognize and destroy foreign nucleic acids as a means to combat the viruses and other transgressors. A comprehensive understanding of how the structurally and functional diverse CRISPR-Cas immune systems each function is essential toward understanding the range of mechanisms that have evolved to protect multitudes of prokaryotes from potentially lethal viral attack. The knowledge gained by our research program will contribute directly to ongoing efforts aimed at exploiting CRISPR-Cas systems as powerful research tools for genome editing and controlled gene expression as well as novel CRISPR-based, sequence-specific antibiotics to selectively combat bacteria and viruses that cause human disease and the spread of antibiotic resistance. Research Research Areas: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Bioinformatics and -omics/Computational Biology Microbe-Host Interactions Research Interests: We study CRISPR-Cas immune systems that protect prokaryotes from viruses and provide powerful research tools for important biotechnology and biomedical applications. Labs (via personnel): Michael Terns Labs: Terns Read more about Michael Terns
Fred Quinn Adjunct Professor Research Labs (via personnel): Fred Quinn Labs: Quinn Read more about Fred Quinn
Silvia Moreno Adjunct Professor Research Research Areas: Microbe-Host Interactions Microbial Physiology Molecular Microbiology Labs (via personnel): Silvia Moreno Labs: Moreno Read more about Silvia Moreno
Mary Ann Moran Adjunct Professor Research Research Areas: Bioinformatics and -omics/Computational Biology Microbial Ecology Labs (via personnel): Mary Ann Moran Labs: Moran Read more about Mary Ann Moran
Cory Momany Adjunct Associate Professor Research Labs (via personnel): Cory Momany Labs: Cory Momany Lab Read more about Cory Momany